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The Alation Data Intelligence Platform

Alation

Reviews from AWS customer

7 AWS reviews

External reviews

98 reviews
from and

External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.

    reviewer2776527

Increases data discoverability and boosts self-service analytics through enriched metadata and intuitive search

  • November 13, 2025
  • Review from a verified AWS customer

What is our primary use case?

My main use case for Alation Data Catalog is data discoverability and metadata management.

In my day-to-day work, I use Alation Data Catalog for data discoverability and metadata management by ingesting metadata from a number of different data platforms, including Snowflake and Power BI. We use the lineage features to keep track of where the data is moving within our environment. We also maintain certain items related to our data assets, including sensitivity tags and data descriptions, which makes it easier for our self-service analytics users to find the data they need.

What is most valuable?

The best features that Alation Data Catalog offers are its search capabilities and the fact that it works with many different data platforms; it is essentially platform agnostic. The other piece that I really think is important is how easy it is to use as well as to manage.

What makes the search capabilities of Alation Data Catalog stand out for me is the fact that every item within the catalog is indexed and searchable, as well as the filtering features that allow you to narrow down to just the types of assets that you need. Wildcard searches are also very helpful. It is a very intuitive tool, as long as you are using the filters.

Alation Data Catalog has positively impacted my organization by allowing users to answer questions that they had without trying to track down an expert. This has saved them quite a bit of time and frustration. It has allowed them to solve problems they probably would not have been able to solve had they not had the catalog.

We have been measuring the curation of content within the catalog that has gone up over time, and we have also seen the number of users in the catalog increase, as well as the amount of activity within the catalog increase. We were seeing about an average of about 20% increase month over month for the last few months.

What needs improvement?

Alation Data Catalog can be improved by enhancing their lineage capabilities to make it easier for us as users to search the lineage without having to use the Alation Data Catalog user interface. If they could put it in a relational format, then we could join that information with other metadata from other platforms. We could join it in reporting. Lineage improvement would be the biggest thing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Alation Data Catalog for eight years.

How was the initial setup?

I choose a nine for my rating because it has been extremely easy to use and extremely easy to set up. It allows us to automate our curation. It allows us to integrate with metadata from other platforms, such as Power BI and Snowflake. It gives us a much better overall view of our data environment. The search capabilities are extremely useful. It is easy for a user to come in and find what they need without having to learn a very complicated tool.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others looking into using Alation Data Catalog is to give a very close look at the capabilities and make sure that they suit what your organization needs. If you are looking for better data discoverability, Alation Data Catalog is basically your best choice. Consider which connectors that you want to purchase, since those are licensed separately. Make sure that you purchase only what you need as far as that goes. Consider trying to integrate Alation Data Catalog information with other platforms as well to allow you to improve upon reporting. That worked successfully for us. I give Alation Data Catalog a rating of nine.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

    V Pharmacologist D.

Powerful Data Interpretation with Impressive Algorithms

  • November 11, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
I like the alation algorithm & ability to create sharp data interptretation output.
What do you dislike about the product?
I found alation package cost is slightly high.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It saving time in drug discovery process and helping to solve data analysis problems of clinical patient data.

    Anubhav K.

Experience of working on Alation

  • November 08, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
What I appreciate most about Alation is its intuitive interface combined with robust data cataloging features. Navigating and managing data throughout the organization becomes straightforward, making it much easier to locate, comprehend, and oversee information. Additionally, the collaboration tools and search capabilities stand out, significantly enhancing both data accessibility and trust within the team.
What do you dislike about the product?
While Alation serves as a robust data catalog platform, I have noticed that it can occasionally become sluggish when working with particularly large datasets. Furthermore, the user interface might benefit from being more intuitive in some sections, especially for newcomers who may not be well-versed in data governance concepts.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is making search for data easier which saves time and also I can use natural language for query. It also helps breaking down data silos

    Yannick L.

Excellent for Data Insights and Organizational Clarity

  • November 08, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
Great job on on helping our organization understand their data assets
What do you dislike about the product?
Price can get expensive based on our daily log
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Alls us to find areas we can grow as a company

    Banking

Developer

  • November 07, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
Able to design APIS and workflow automation
What do you dislike about the product?
Not lending or payments module. It is only an agent builder
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Building api's from scratch and layout codes

    Marketing and Advertising

Insightful Analytics with Excellent Data Quality Scores

  • November 06, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
I love the insights it provides particularly the data quality score
What do you dislike about the product?
Sometimes the platform can be a little slow
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Saves me time when analysing date and instead does it for me

    Ravi P.

Effortless Data Discovery and Trust for Enterprises

  • November 06, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
it is an enterprise data catalog and governance platform so it's easier to find, understand and trust the data.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is no as such dislike about the platform sometimes latency feel you boredom.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It allows me to understand the key requirement and tells me to do data manipulation accordingly.

    Shahid A.

Exceptionally Easy to Use and Intuitive

  • November 05, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
This product is extremely easy to use and proves to be very useful. I would highly recommend it to others.
What do you dislike about the product?
No, everything is good and it's very easy to use.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I found this very helpful in resolving my issue, and it is also extremely easy to use.

    reviewer2774796

Has improved data collaboration and discovery but still needs better workflow configuration

  • November 05, 2025
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

The main use case for Alation Data Catalog was to create a one-point reference source of truth for the entire organization. The problem is that there are so many different lines of businesses and functional areas that work in silos, and one organization does not know the data in another organization, even though their data or metadata may be related. Moreover, the same data may be used or consumed by different lines of businesses or functional areas without any collaboration. In data governance, our aim is to bring both the business and IT onto the same page.

The use case for our business is to create a single point inventory of all the technical and business assets and all the metadata onto a single catalog tool, which helps any user across the enterprise be able to search the metadata and perform impact analysis using lineage features to understand the flow of metadata from source to target to the consumption layer via reporting. For that, we utilized Alation Data Catalog.

What is most valuable?

There are so many different tools in the market, but the best features for me are the user-friendly search and discovery. At the search bar at the top, I can find any data asset by just typing my natural language search. When I search using natural language, Alation Data Catalog search discovery surfaces the most popular or trusted data sets, even if I don't know the technical terms. As a business user, I might search for an address or a term like party identifier, but I might not be aware that the technical metadata for that is in a table named t underscore party, containing a column named pty underscore id, which is part of a database or a server with a technical name.

The search feature really helps businesses.

Another strong feature is the automated data lineage, giving us a visual flow of how the metadata is flowing from system A to B to C and if any transformations are taking place. We can also create articles in Alation Data Catalog, which function as pages in SharePoint or Confluence that can be shared with users.

This includes comments and notes, an excellent glossary feature, and tagging capabilities, where Alation Data Catalog automatically suggests tags such as PII to classify metadata. These are the features that stood out for us.

The agenda of data governance is to have positive outcomes, and specifically speaking, we have saved our businesses about thirty to forty percent of analytical research and analysis time compared to previous metrics, highlighting the benefit of having a proper data governance tool in place.

Since trusted data is readily discoverable, users spend less time searching for it and avoid duplicate work, resulting in faster analytics. Moreover, when we establish good data lineage, compliance is easier to meet during audits since data quality issues are detected sooner, leading teams to resolve them faster and gain confidence in their reporting, both for internal and external purposes. These are a couple of the benefits and positive impacts Alation Data Catalog has had on us.

What needs improvement?

One limitation I would mention is that Collibra excels in workflow management, and Alation Data Catalog has some constraints in this area. It would be beneficial if Alation Data Catalog offered more flexible or configurable workflow options.

Additionally, another improvement point would be regarding connectors for scanning metadata. While Alation Data Catalog has many connectors, integrating with legacy or niche systems can be challenging, often requiring data engineers to create extensive API configurations or bridges. It would help if Alation Data Catalog could develop more out-of-the-box connectors and simpler integration workflows to ease the burdens on data engineers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working in data governance for over six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Alation Data Catalog is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Regarding scalability, Alation Data Catalog supports hybrid architecture, integrating both on-premises and cloud data systems, which enables it to scale as the organizational data footprint grows, allowing us to scan more sources while featuring automated metadata harvesting, capable of handling large volumes of data with robust search and indexing capabilities.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support from Alation Data Catalog is decent. I would rate the customer support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Collibra and Alation Data Catalog. However, our business and leadership ultimately decided to go with Alation Data Catalog, which is why we use it.

What other advice do I have?

For new users, if we are discussing the advantages of Alation Data Catalog, in the background, we can also map usage tracking, which helps understand the big picture of data governance. When our business wants to measure the impact of Alation Data Catalog, they can view the usage, the number of users, the glossary assets, and the growth of critical business terms over time. While Alation Data Catalog serves as a single source of truth, it helps identify this usage tracking for the business.

Alation Data Catalog also identifies recommended assets, allowing users to suggest or promote certain datasets, building trust within the business regarding the reliability of reports. Additionally, having an inbuilt SQL editor allows users to write, share, and review queries directly within the platform, streamlining analytics collaboration for new users exploring Alation Data Catalog for the first time.

The agenda of a data governance tool is to save a business's money and time. Specifically for Alation Data Catalog, in our business case, we save about thirty to forty percent less time when searching for data assets, meaning data analysts and stewards save that much time, which snowballs into significant ripple effects over weeks and months. This saves time and money, decreasing the chances of incurring millions of dollars in fines in regulated industries, enabling better data governance to mitigate those risks.

As for changes in day-to-day operations and morale, when we have a structured catalog in place and a business philosophy centered around discoverable metadata, we reduce searching time. Having clean, curated data assets helps analysts and data stewards focus more on higher-impact tasks rather than tedious cleaning and curation, boosting employee morale as they no longer have to repeat dull tasks. For example, onboarding times for new analysts have dropped from several months to just a few weeks, helping new hires feel less lost or overwhelmed. Trusted terms used in the business are readily available in the business glossary, complete with clear definitions, policies, and associated datasets, resulting in improved communication and fewer misunderstandings while aligning departments on definitions, thus enhancing company morale.

My advice for others looking into using Alation Data Catalog is to start by asking your business about their goals and needs. Every business and industry is unique, and it is crucial to ensure that any tool meets those specific needs. If you invest in something fancy and expensive but fail to meet the business's requirements, then that investment is wasted, so always focus on what the business requires. I would rate this product a seven out of ten overall.

    Praveen B.

Extremely Useful Insights, Effortless Experience with AI

  • November 05, 2025
  • Review provided by G2

What do you like best about the product?
The insights generated from the data were extremely useful and easy for our customers to understand.
What do you dislike about the product?
There isn't much to complain about. Since the introduction of AI, everything has become much easier.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Our client needed insights and reports from their raw data to support business decision-making, and Alation addressed this requirement effectively.

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